To Four Thousand Years Later

"subway?"

Leonardo asked in surprise.

He was really surprised this time,

He remembered that the reason why Britain built subways in history was because of inconvenient transportation, which made London too congested.

But you don't even popularize steam cars, so what else do you want to block?

But considering the cost of a steam car, a one-person car is still an extremely expensive luxury—his father, Piero, had defended a big case in court before, and the businessman gave Piero a steam car as a gift. Gift. In more cases, it is the bus business of steam buses that can really pay back. Their speed can already reach nearly 30 miles, which can already be called a "high-speed" vehicle.

The steam bus circulates according to a specific route, stops once every kilometer, and circulates nine times a day, namely three times in the morning, noon and evening. Once you get on the bus, no matter how far the car is, the fare is the same. In all fairness, this price is not high. But for the poor, they still can't afford the round-trip fare of two pence a day-but for the rich, the bus is far less decent than a horse-drawn carriage or a private car. It was shaking and stuffy, and it was unseemly for men and women to squeeze together, and it could smell the stench of fellow travelers. They often live in ordinary-grade residential areas, but work in rich areas, and they need to take buses around the city to and from get off work every day. The appearance of steam buses made their lives more convenient. 3_After all, horse-drawn carriages and rickshaws are charged according to the driving distance, and buying a house in a wealthy area near the workplace is a huge expense.

But also because of this...the steam bus business made them pay back quickly, and even make money. Three or four commercial aristocrats headed by the Pazzi family invested one after another and began to promote the steam bus business in the Principality of Sardinia. In fact, when Leonardo heard that they were going to build a railway, he was not too surprised.

The situation today is completely different from six years ago. At that time, Leonardo put forward the political opinion of "building the railway" predictively, and the railway was built at that time. Most people just don't see any benefit.

It's different now. The income from the several railways in the Teutonic Kingdom has already made the surrounding countries excited; and the merchants have also made money from the passenger transport industry, so it should be taken for granted... But why build it underground? "

Leonardo frowned and asked: "Have they considered it carefully? Have they asked professionals... Also, what do they want to do?" Master Verrocchio shook his head: "Florence is far from Bologna, and there is also a straight-line distance. Close to one hundred and ten kilometers.

He sneered, shook his head, and said in a somewhat exaggerated tone: "A 110-kilometer railway running underground! Leonardo, you should be able to imagine how huge and incredible this is. Miracle engineering.

"This is impossible.

Leonardo shook his head without hesitation: "If it is a short-distance underground railway of five or six kilometers, at least there is hope. But for a long-distance underground railway of more than 30 kilometers... During the construction process, what is an insignificant earthquake, heavy rain , or construction accidents, it will destroy several years or even ten years of large projects "I think so too.

Verrocchio nodded in relief, and replied: "This is not objective at all. Although an engineer has declared that he is responsible for this. But I doubt whether he can be responsible for this...for so many "Which engineer?" "

Leonardo frowned slightly.

Verrocchio said. He took out some leaflets from his arms and handed them to Leonardo.

"These leaflets are his invention sponsorship advertisements four years ago when he promoted the idea of ​​the 'trackless steam locomotive'. But people laughed at him, and no fool was willing to give him money. But Leonardo noticed a detail: "You said the police Director? Which city's police chief? "

"Of course the Police Commissioner of Florence.

"But you may not know that the last three Florence police chiefs were all appointed by members of the Pazzi family. After Leonardo finished speaking, the two looked at each other in silence for a while."... I said, Xiao Lai Leonardo," Verrocchio hesitated for a while, and asked tentatively, "I mean... Maybe they never thought about building an underground railway? "

"So, do you know where the Underground Railroad is going to be built?" Leonardo asked again: "West End, or East End?" "

"It is the North District where a slum in the North District is located.

Verrocchio said quickly: "It is said that he intends to use the open-cut method for construction, using unsupported grading for excavation. Therefore, he intends to directly demolish the slums...and then build them back after the railway is completed.

"It's just nonsense!" Although Verrocchio didn't understand it, Leonardo had the field of architecture, and he knew in his heart that this construction method was very unreliable.

The so-called open cut method simply means digging directly from the ground. After reaching the red elevation, construction is carried out from the bottom up, and the top is filled in after the top is capped.

The burial depth of the subway is relatively small, and the open-cut method can be used for construction in theory—but the premise is that there is no building above. Otherwise, including the cost of demolition and reconstruction, it would be better to excavate the earth horizontally by cover-and-excavation method.

...The construction party has never considered the question of back-to-construction at all.

So he frowned, thought for a while, and asked again: "Then where will the poor go after the slums are demolished? The shelter or other slums?" No one builds a shelter...Doesn't a shelter and an orphanage

Verrocchio shook his head, and said: "Of course they can only go to the poor areas of other cities. For example, the city of Fiesole in the northeast, or the city of Prato in the west. There are poor areas there. Leonardo recalled the journey and shook his head.

The slums in Feiye Sorong alone may not hold many people. Camp in...that would be too far. The road is more than 20 kilometers away, and it is basically impossible for those civilians to return to Florence to work. "So I think that the purpose of the Pazzi family may not be to build a subway at all... but to drive out the poor and demolish the slums.